African American Studies Commons^™

Shedding Light Upon The Shadows: An Examination Of The Use Of Voice As Resistance And Reclamation Of The Black Woman From Enslavement To Freedom., Courtney Erin Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My research examines the enslaved black woman's reclamation of self through the use of voice and resistance from enslavement into freedom. I argue that the enslaved black woman's voice was one that grew stronger and louder, in an effort to have her story heard, through her attempts of reclamation of self and transition from slave to a free woman. I begin with an introduction to the purpose of my research. Chapter one describes my approach to my research. Chapter two describes the conditions of slavery for black women. Chapter three describes enslaved black women's mechanisms of resistance. Chapter four examinations …

Is The Civil Rights Movement Really Dead: The Social Philosophy Of Congressman John Lewis, Kevin Hoover

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

The path from rural Pike County, Alabama to the floor of the nation's Capitol was one litters with hatred, bigotry, and injustice for John Lewis; however, it was this true American hero who helped pave-over this scarred road with tolerance, truth, and compassion in the hopes of building "The Beloved Community." Born the son of two sharecroppers 1940, John Lewis entered a world which subjected him to the harshest times of segregation and souther racism. Over the next sixty-six years of his life, Lewis would dedicate himself to not just the cause of black Americans, but moreover, to the cause …

"Don't Believe The Hype": The Construction And Export Of African American Images In Hip-Hop Culture., John Ike Sewell Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines recurring motifs and personas in hip-hop.

Interviews with influential hip-hop scholars, writers and music industry personnel were conducted and analyzed using qualitative methods. Interview subjects were selected based on their insider knowledge as music critics, hip-hop scholars, ethnomusicologists, publicists, and music industry positions.

The vast majority of constructed imagery in hip-hop is based on a single persona, the gangsta. This qualitative analysis reveals why gangsta personas and motifs have become the de facto imagery of hip-hop. Gangsta imagery is repeatedly presented because it sells, it is the most readily-available role, and because of music industry pressures.

This …

The Unknown Struggle : A Comparative Analysis Of Women In The Black Power Movement., Elizabeth Michele Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis comparatively analyzes the experiences and roles of women in the United States and Caribbean Black Power Movements. Using the Black Panther Party and Trinidadian National Joint Action Committee as case studies, the researcher isolates similarities and differences among women in these two regions of the African Diaspora. Black Feminist and Caribbean Feminist theoretical perspectives aide in understanding how the interlocking social forces of race, class, and gender impacted women participating in the Black Nationalist movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Doers Of The Living Word: Gospel Ideology And The African American Womanist Novel, Rebecca Erin Huskey

Dissertations

In Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison issues a charge and illuminates the challenge that she and other African American writers face in defining the self through a racially oppressive language:

Neither blackness nor "people of color" stimulates in me notions of excessive, limitless love, anarchy, or routine dread. I cannot rely on these metaphorical shortcuts because I am a black writer struggling with and through a language that can powerfully evoke and enforce hidden signs of racial superiority, cultural hegemony, and dismissive "othering" of people and language which are by no means marginal or already and completely known and …

The Sociopolitical Construction Of Race And Literary Representations Of The Biracial Subject, Kara Fontenot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Twentieth-century American literature incorporates interracial and biracial themes that bring to light the often unnamed and unrecognized biracial identities of many Americans. Unfortunately, despite the potential value for a deeper understanding of the construction of race, these themes have seldom been seriously considered in the context of reevaluating the nature of the system that creates racial labels and categories until the recent emergence of postmodern critical theories. This thesis examines the black-white interracial themes and biracial protagonists in Nella Larsen's Quicksand (1928) and Danzy Senna's Caucasia (1998) in order to explore the texts' representations of systems of hegemonic power that …

A Recurrence Of Matrifocal Networks In The African American Community: A Case Study Of The Mother's Board Of The Black Baptist Church, Avril Denisha Fuller

Theses Digitization Project

A case study of the Mother's Board of the First Missionary Baptist Church of Sun Village, California was conducted using the methods of participant observation, indepth interviews and oral history. This study shows the network formed around the Mother's Board at First Missionary Baptist Church as an exemplification of recurring matrifocal netowrks in the history of the African American community.

America's Other Peculiar Institution: Exploring The York County Free Black Register As A Means Of Social Control, 1798-1831, Andrew Jefferson Butts

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Navigating The Academy: The Career Advancement Of Black And White Women Full-Time Faculty, Wandalyn Fanchon Glover

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The recruitment, retention, and promotion of Black women in the academy continue to be a challenge even after numerous policies and programs to rectify historical and social injustices in American society. This study utilized a womanist lens as a framework to conceptualize the interlocking impact of race and gender on the experiences of Black women in higher education. Utilizing a quantitative design, the primary source for the study included data gathered from the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty conducted by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) in survey cycles of 1993, 1999, and 2004. The researcher examined the pace …

You Just Had That Gut Feeling': Film, Memory, And The Lynching Of James Byrd, Jr, William Brian Piper

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Spirituality And Therapeutic Counseling, Deborah Kelly

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Segregated Schools And Student Achievement: The Relationship Between Same Culture Schools And The Achievement Of African-American And Latino Students, Lawrence E. Everett

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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A Phenomenological Exploration Of Intermarriages Between Men Of European/U.S./Australian Heritage And Batswana Women Of African Heritage, Nomagugu Sethlhare-Oagile

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Changes In African American Urban High School Principals' Leadership Behaviors In An Era Of No Child Left Behind, Johnathan T. Jefferson

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Motivational Factors That Influence African American Women To Serve As Michigan State Legislators, Rogenia Goza

Dissertations

Problem. The purpose of this study was to discover factors that influence the political career choice of African American women legislators to serve in the State of Michigan Congress. Therefore, this study focused on motivations that affected three African American women legislators' political experiences.

Method. This study used a case-study approach, and the end result is a multi-faceted case study of the political experiences of three State of Michigan African American women legislators. The techniques used in the ethnographic research---interviews, observations, note-taking, and reviews of public and personal documents---were intended to increase understanding of the observed phenomena. Data …

Breaking With Tradition: Slave Literacy In Early Virginia, 1680--1780, Antonio T. Bly

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

"Breaking with Tradition" is a study of slave literacy in eighteenth-century British North America, the era of the First Great Awakening and the American Revolution. Instead of highlighting the work of a few northern slave authors (the present emphasis in African American literary history), it focuses on the relationship between slave education in colonial Virginia and the social and political circumstances in which slaves acquired a knowledge of letters. A social history of life in the slave quarters, the "great house," and in towns, "Breaking with Tradition" is at once a case study of slaves reading and writing in the …

Closing The Achievement Gap Of The Urban Minority Student Migrating To The Suburban Public High School, Joseph Pompilio

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Role Of Social Capital In Higher Education: What Variables Of Social Capital Have An Impact On The Successful Completion Of College For Low-Income Students And Students Of Color, Lynn Marie Mertz

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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